Quick-change system, adapter and quick coupler

ABSTRACT

A quick-change system for changing attachments on a construction machine using an adapter and a quick coupler connectable to the adapter in which the adapter has at least a first coupling piece and the quick coupler has a second coupling piece connectable to the first coupling piece. A replaceable intermediate piece is arranged on the first coupling piece provided with first electrical contact elements and/or the second coupling piece provided with second electrical contact elements to produce an electrical connection between the first coupling piece and the second coupling piece.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The disclosure relates to a quick-change system for automatic changing of attachments to a construction machine. The disclosure also relates to an adapter and a quick coupler for such a quick-change system.

BACKGROUND

Such quick-change systems are used for simple and convenient changing of different attachments of excavators and other construction machines. For example, tilting buckets, grippers, claws, compactors, magnets, hydraulic hammers and other attachments can be connected to or disconnected from a boom of an excavator in a few seconds with a high safety standard from a driver's cab. They generally contain an adaptor on the attachment side and a quick coupler arranged on the construction machine, which has first claw-like receptacles on one side to hold a first coupling element arranged on the adapter and second receptacles on the other side with at least one locking element movable between a release position and a locking position for releasable holding of a second coupling element arranged on the adapter.

A generic quick-change system is known from DE 20 2013 001 658 U1. It has an adapter with two pin-like coupling elements arranged between parallel side parts at a stipulated spacing from each other for connection of the adapter to a quick coupler. The quick coupler belonging to the adapter contains claw-like first receptacles on one side for the first pin-like coupling element and second receptacles on the other side with at least one locking element movable between a release position and a locking position for releasable holding of the second coupling element. Corresponding hydraulic couplings are provided on the adapter and the quick coupler to supply power to the attachments. For certain use areas, however, electrical plug connections may be necessary in order to supply electrical power to the attachments or to transfer electrical signals between the attachments and the excavators or the other construction machines for control or the like. Such electrical plug connections, however, are relatively sensitive and can also be easily damaged especially because of severe operating conditions. Replacement, however, is then demanding and expensive, because the coupling elements must be entirely replaced.

SUMMARY

One aspect of the disclosure relates to a quick-change system, an adapter and a quick coupler that permits simple and cost-effective repair when the coupling elements are damaged.

Expedient embodiments and advantageous modifications are also disclosed.

In an embodiment, a first coupling piece provided with first electrical contact elements and a second coupling piece provided with second electrical contact elements for connection to the first coupling piece are provided on the quick coupler. A replaceable intermediate piece to form an electrical connection between the first and second coupling piece is arranged on the first coupling piece and/or the second coupling piece. The intermediate piece provided with the sensitive contacts can be quickly and simply replaced, when required, even without disassembly of all the coupling pieces, and replaced with a new intermediate piece. Simple and cost-effective repair is made possible on this account.

In a particularly expedient embodiment, the intermediate piece provided with electrical contacts can be releasably fastened via an interference-free releasable connection in a body of the first coupling piece and/or second coupling piece. In this way, the intermediate piece is securely held but can be simply replaced when required. The interference-free releasable connection can be designed, for example, as a press fit.

The disclosure also relates to an adapter intended for a quick-change system, which contains a support element having two coupling elements arranged at a stipulated spacing from each other for connection of the adapter to a quick coupler and at least one first coupling piece arranged on the support element for connection to a second coupling piece arranged on the quick coupler. A replaceable intermediate piece to produce an electrical connection between the first coupling piece and the second coupling piece is arranged on the first coupling piece provided with the first electrical contact elements.

The disclosure also relates to a quick coupler that contains a support having receptacles for connection with coupling elements of an adapter on the attachment side and at least one second coupling piece arranged on the support for connection with a first coupling piece arranged on the quick coupler. A replaceable intermediate piece to produce an electrical connection between the first coupling piece and the second coupling piece can also be arranged on the second coupling piece provided with the second electrical contact elements.

The intermediate piece arranged on the first and/or second coupling piece can contain first electrical contacts on one side for connection with the first electrical contact elements of the first coupling piece and second electrical contacts on the other side for connection with second electrical contact elements of the second coupling piece. The first electrical contacts of the intermediate piece can be designed as pins and the corresponding first electrical contact elements of the first coupling piece as bushings. The second electrical contacts of the intermediate piece can be designed as elastic contact pins.

In addition to the first and second electrical contacts, further contacts to form an additional connection plane can also be provided on the intermediate piece in another advantageous embodiment. Various controls are possible on this account via a single plug connection. At least one of the first, second or additional electrical contacts of the intermediate piece can be designed as a grounding contact. The grounding contact can then be designed using a larger protrusion so that it produces an electrical connection before the other contacts when the first and second coupling pieces are connected.

A sealing element designed as an O-ring can be arranged in a first annular groove on the outside of the intermediate piece to seal the intermediate piece relative to the body of the first coupling piece. This sealing element not only represents a seal of the intermediate piece relative to the coupling piece but can also serve for additional holding of the intermediate piece within the coupling piece. An annular seal, for example, having an X-shaped cross-section can also be arranged in a second annular groove provided on the outside of the intermediate piece. The body of the first coupling piece can be sealed by this seal relative to the body of the second coupling piece.

In another advantageous embodiment, the intermediate piece can have a positioning element designed as a flattened protrusion on its side facing the contact insert of the coupling piece for shape-mated engagement with a mating element adapted to the contour of the positioning element on the contact insert 19 arranged in the body. This can guarantee that the intermediate piece can only be coupled with the contact insert in a stipulated position and the contacts provided on the intermediate piece therefore enter into proper engagement in the contact elements provided for this purpose in the contact insert. The positioning element on the intermediate piece can also be designed as a groove or as a protrusion for engagement of protruding shape-mated elements or corresponding recesses on the contact insert. Other positioning or shape-mated elements for mutual shape-mated engagement are also possible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further details and advantages of the disclosure are apparent from the following description of a preferred practical example with reference to the drawing. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 shows a practical example of a quick-change system having an adapter and a quick coupler in a coupled position;

FIG. 2 shows a first coupling piece and a second coupling piece for electrical connection between the adapter and quick coupler in a longitudinal section;

FIG. 3 shows a detail view A of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows the first coupling piece and the second coupling piece of FIG. 2 in a perspective view;

FIG. 5 shows a coupling piece of FIG. 4 in an exploded view;

FIG. 6 shows a front view of the coupling piece of FIG. 1 without an intermediate piece;

FIG. 7 shows an intermediate piece in a rear view;

FIG. 8 shows an intermediate piece in a front view and

FIG. 9 shows a second practical example of an intermediate piece in a front view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A practical example of a quick-change system having an adapter 1 and a corresponding quick coupler 2 for simple changing of attachments to vehicles, especially construction machines, is shown in FIG. 1 in a coupled position. Tilting buckets, grippers, claws, magnets, compactors, hydraulic hammers and other mechanical or hydraulic attachments can be simply and conveniently connected to or disconnected from a boom or other attachment of a construction vehicle from a driver's cab using such a quick-change system.

The adapter 1 fastenable to an attachment or integrated on the attachment contains a support element consisting of a base plate 3 and two side parts 4 having two coupling elements 5 and 6 spaced from each other. The coupling elements 5 and 6 that serve for connection with the quick coupler 2 are arranged between the two side parts 4 spaced from each other arranged parallel at right angles to the base plate 3. In the depicted practical example, a pin-like first coupling element 5 and a pin-like second coupling element 6 arranged at a stipulated spacing from it are provided between the two cheek-like side parts 4 of the support element for releasable connection with the quick coupler 2. The two pin-like coupling elements 5 and 6 are inserted with the corresponding ends into the corresponding holes 7 and 8 in the two side parts 4 of the adapter 1 and fixed there.

The quick coupler 2 can be mounted, for example, on a boom of an excavator. It contains a support 9 having two parallel side parts 10 in which the receiving openings 11 and 12 for the fastening pins (not shown) are provided for fastening of the quick coupler 2 to a boom of an excavator or a connection part of another construction vehicle. The quick coupler 2 has on one side claw-like or fork-like first receptacles 13 to accommodate and hold the first pin-like coupling element 5 and second receptacles on the other side to accommodate the second pin-like coupling element 6. Locking elements (not apparent here) for locking of the second pin-like coupling element 6 are provided on the downward open second receptacles.

The locking elements in the depicted embodiment consist of two locking pins parallel to each other, which are guided to move in guide holes within the support 9 and can be moved between a pulled-in release position and an extended locking position via a hydraulically operable cylinder 14. In the extended locking position, the downward open second receptacles of the pin-like locking elements are closed on the bottom so that the second pin-like coupling element 6 is engaged from below by the pin-like locking elements and the adapter 1 can be secured on the quick coupler 2.

In order to connect the adapter 1 to the quick coupler 2, the quick coupler 2 generally arranged on a boom of an excavator is initially moved so that the first pin-like coupling element 5 on the adapter 1 is introduced to the claw-like receptacles 13 on one side of the quick coupler 2. The quick coupler 2 is then pivoted using the still withdrawn locking elements around the first pin-like coupling element 5 so that the second pin-like coupling element 6 on the adapter 1 engages on the contact surfaces of the downward open receptacles on the other side of the quick coupler 2. The locking elements arranged movable in the support 9 of the quick coupler 2 can then be extended using the hydraulically operable cylinder 14 so that the second pin-like coupling element 6 on the adapter 1 is engaged from below by the two locking pins on the quick coupler 2 and the adapter 1 is therefore secured on the quick coupler 2.

As follows from FIG. 1, a first coupling piece 15 is provided on the adapter 1 for connection with a second coupling piece 16 arranged on the quick coupler 2. An electrical connection between the adapter 1 on the attachment side and the quick coupler 2 on the construction machine side can be created by the first coupling piece 15 and the second coupling piece 16 releasably connected to it. For example, the attachments can be supplied electrical power or electrical signals can be transferred between the attachments on the excavator or other construction machines. In the depicted embodiment, the first coupling piece 15 is designed as a plug arranged fixed on the adapter 1 and the second coupling piece 16 is designed as a socket movable with the cylinder 14.

The connection between the first coupling piece 15 and the corresponding second coupling piece 16 is shown in different views in FIGS. 2 to 4. The first coupling piece 15 designed here as a plug and depicted in FIG. 5 separately has a hollow cylindrical body 17 with the first electrical contact elements 18 arranged in it. In the depicted embodiment, the first electrical contact elements 18 of the coupling piece 15 are provided in a first contact insert 19 arranged within the body 17 and firmly cast with it. The first electrical contact elements 18 in the depicted embodiment are designed sleeve-like and embedded in the first contact insert 19. They can be connected to a power supply or consumer via lines (not shown).

The second coupling piece 16 designed here as a socket and shown in FIG. 4 also contains a hollow cylindrical body 20 with the second electrical contact elements 21 arranged in it. Here again the second electrical contact elements 21 are embedded in a second contact insert 22 cast into the housing 20. The second contact elements 21 are designed here as protruding pins. The electrical connection between the first and second electrical contact elements 18 to 21 occurs via a replaceable intermediate piece 23, which in the depicted embodiment is held using a press fit or another interference-free releasable connection within the housing 17 of the first coupling piece 15 but, if required, can be simply replaced. The replaceable intermediate piece 23, however, could also be arranged in the housing 20 of the second coupling piece 16. A replaceable intermediate piece 23 could also be provided in the first coupling piece 15 and in the second coupling piece 16.

As is apparent from FIG. 3, the intermediate piece 23 has the first electrical contacts 24 on its first side facing the contact insert 19 of the first coupling piece 15 for connection with the first contact elements 18 of the first coupling piece 15. The first electrical contacts 24 are designed as pins for engagement in the sleeve-like first electrical contact elements 18 of the first coupling piece 15. The intermediate piece 23 on its second side facing the contact insert 22 of the second coupling piece 16 has the second electrical contacts 25 for connection with the second contact elements 12 of the second coupling piece 16. The second electrical contacts 25 are designed as axially movable and elastic contact pins.

It is also apparent in FIGS. 3 and 5 that a sealing element 27 designed here as an O-ring is arranged in a first annular groove 26 on the outside of the intermediate piece 23 for sealing of the intermediate pieced 23 relative to the body 17 of the first coupling piece 15. Another annular seal 29 having an X-shaped cross-section is arranged in a second annular groove 28 provided on the outside of the intermediate piece 23. Through this seal 29, the body 17 of the first coupling piece 15 can be sealed relative to the body 20 of the first coupling piece 16.

It follows from FIG. 6 that the intermediate piece 23 has a positioning element 30 designed here as a flattened protrusion on its side facing the contact insert 19 of the first coupling piece 15 for shape-mated engagement with a mating element 31 adapted to the contour of the positioning element 30 shown in FIG. 7 on the contact insert 19 arranged in the body 17. The mating element 31 in the depicted embodiment is designed as a flattening on the outside of the intermediate piece 23. It can be guaranteed by the positioning element 30 and the mating element 31 adapted to it that the intermediate piece 23 can only be coupled in a stipulated position with the contact insert 19 and therefore the pin-like contacts 24 provided on the intermediate piece 23 enter into proper engagement in the sleeve-like contact elements 18 in the contact insert 19 provided for this purpose. It can also prevent in this way an intermediate piece 23 not adapted to the connections of the contact insert 19 from being coupled to the first coupling piece 15.

Another practical example of an intermediate piece 23 is shown in FIG. 9. In contrast to the embodiment depicted in FIG. 8, the intermediate piece 23 contains additional contacts 32 arranged around contacts 25 for formation of an additional contact plane. Further controls via a single plug connection are made possible on this account. One of the contacts 32 can have an elevated protrusion and therefore serve as a grounding contact, which produces an electrical connection before the other contacts during coupling of the first coupling piece 15 with the second coupling piece 16.

The disclosure is not restricted to the described practical example. The coupling piece provided on the quick coupler can also have a simply replaceable intermediate piece having the features just described. A replaceable intermediate piece can also be provided on both coupling pieces, i.e., both on the first coupling piece arranged on the adapter and on the second coupling piece provided on the quick coupler.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

-   -   1 Adapter     -   2 Quick coupler     -   3 Base plate     -   4 Side part     -   5 First coupling element     -   6 Second coupling element     -   7 Hole     -   8 Hole     -   9 Support     -   10 Side part     -   11 Receptacle opening     -   12 Receptacle opening     -   13 First receptacle     -   14 Cylinder     -   15 First coupling piece     -   16 Second coupling piece     -   17 Body     -   18 First electrical contact elements     -   19 First contact insert     -   20 Body     -   21 Second electrical contact elements     -   22 Second contact insert     -   23 Intermediate piece     -   24 First contacts     -   25 Second contact     -   26 First annular groove     -   27 Sealing element     -   28 Second annular groove     -   29 Seal     -   30 Positioning element     -   31 Mating element     -   32 Additional contact 

1. A quick-change system for changing attachments on a construction machine using an adapter and a quick coupler connectable to the adapter, the adapter having at least a first coupling piece and the quick coupler having a second coupling piece connectable to the first coupling piece, wherein a replaceable intermediate piece is arranged on the first coupling piece provided with the first electrical contact elements and/or the second coupling piece provided with the second electrical contact elements to produce an electrical connection between the first coupling piece and the coupling piece.
 2. The quick-change system according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate piece is releasably fastened via an interference-free releasable connection in a body of the first coupling piece and/or a body of the second coupling piece.
 3. An adapter for a quick-change system for changing attachments on a construction machine, which contains a support having two coupling elements arranged at a stipulated spacing from each other for connection of the adapter with a quick coupler and at least a first coupling piece arranged on the support for connection with a second coupling piece arranged on the quick coupler, wherein a replaceable intermediate piece is arranged on the first coupling piece provided with first electrical contact elements to produce an electrical connection between the first coupling piece and the second coupling piece.
 4. The adapter according to claim 3, wherein the intermediate piece is releasably fastened using an interference-free releasable connection in a body of the first coupling piece.
 5. The adapter according to claim 3, wherein the intermediate piece contains on one side first electrical contacts for connection with the first electrical contact elements of the first coupling piece and on the other side second electrical contacts for connection with the second electrical contact elements of the second coupling piece.
 6. The adapter according to claim 5, wherein the first electrical contacts of the intermediate piece are designed as pins and the corresponding first electrical contact elements of the first coupling piece are designed as sleeves.
 7. The adapter according to claim 5, wherein the second electrical contacts of the intermediate piece are designed as elastic contact pins.
 8. The adapter according to claim 5, wherein the intermediate piece contains additional contacts to form an additional contact plane in addition to the first and second electrical contacts.
 9. The adapter according to claim 5, wherein at least one of the first, second or additional electrical contacts of the intermediate piece is designed as a grounding contact.
 10. The adapter according to claim 9, wherein the grounding contact is designed so that during coupling of the first and second coupling piece, the grounding contact produces an electrical connection before the other contacts.
 11. The adapter according to claim 3, wherein a sealing element is arranged in a first annular groove on the outside of the intermediate piece for sealing of the intermediate piece relative to the first coupling piece.
 12. The adapter according to claim 3, wherein a seal is arranged in a second annular groove on the outside of an intermediate piece for sealing of the body of the first coupling piece relative to the second coupling piece.
 13. The adapter according to claim 3, wherein a positioning element is provided on the intermediate piece for shape-mated engagement with the mating element.
 14. A quick coupler for a quick-change system for changing attachments on a construction machine, containing a support with receptacles for connection with coupling elements of a quick-change adapter with at least a second coupling piece arranged on the support for connection with a first coupling piece arranged on the quick coupler, wherein a replaceable intermediate piece is arranged on the second coupling piece provided with second electrical contact elements to produce an electrical connection between the first coupling piece and the second coupling piece. 